A Fundraiser for a Canadian Children's Library in Ethiopia

(Not so) Fun Fact Friday: Famine

Today, my Unitarian friends sent out an email looking for donations and volunteers for a local program called Women4Women. It is a simple program that provides groceries at reduced prices for local families. Once in a while, we also help with the Out of the Cold dinner program. Niagara College also regularly collects food products for students in need. It seems that we here in Canada, a land of agricultural plenty, have issues of hunger for some people in our population! Why? With so much food everywhere, it is terrible that people are still hungry. It is sad that children go to school without having eaten a nutritious breakfast. Food is available…but just not to them! Why????

Now take our food issues here in Canada and multiple by… hmmm….A LOT and you have Ethiopia.

A woman I know recently adopted two children from Ethiopia. The five year old is so small that he is not even on the percentile charts that we use to track physical development. He is about the size of a 3 year old because of malnutrition. I’ve also been preparing for some of the issues that an adopted child might have around food. I was telling my Dad that some kids don’t have an “off” switch when it comes to eating…subconsciously feeling that that have to eat as much as possible when they can get it. They will eat until they make themselves sick. Other children hoard food in their bedroom, worried about not being fed again.

When I was traveling in Ethiopia in 2007, I had no idea that food security was still a big issue there…my knowledge on that topic only stretching as far as the “Band Aid” concerts of the early 80’s. But, as I was making plans to travel to the south of the country, a new friend that I had made (a logistics officer for the UN World Food Program) commented that he had never been down there himself, but recognized the names of the towns as places where they made food drops and had feeding programs. I was shocked. There are still regions of Ethiopia today where food security is tenuous. Add to that inflation, the price of oil, the effects of climate change and political instabilities and conflict in the region and you have the makings of famine. There are people living on the edge of it! Why doesn’t this problem go away?

This got me thinking about global food security and the makings of a famine.

In a world of plenty, it defies our sense of logic as to why people are starving. Where does a famine come from? How can it be prevented? How can we help? Why do we continue to have them? Can world governments really not get together to create a humane world food policy? What is the United Nations stance on this? Why does Ethiopia suffer from famines so regularly?

As you can see, this post is more questions than answers. It is such a complex situation involving the environment, economy, politics and so much more, but I need to start to approach some of these big questions, so I can improve my understanding of the region. So, this video and a little wiki reading and this article from Time are my first steps toward a better understanding… I’m sure it will be a long and painful learning curve!